Tuesday preview: Fresnillo and Glencore Xstrata report annual results

3rd Mar 2014 14:31

Fresnillo is expected to report a decline in full-year annual earnings on Tuesday, reflecting the impact of lower metal prices and a drop in gold production.Numis predicts the miner will post earnings per share of $0.48, compared to $1.03 in 2012 and net profit after tax of $352m.A decline in metal prices and gold production may be slightly offset by an increase in silver production, the broker said."We expect costs to remain low, but up year-on-year," Numis added. "We forecast EBITDA of $847m, also down year-on-year(2012 $1.3bn, consensus $799m). We forecast $685m in capex and expect the balance sheet to remain strong with $590m in cash.""We expect full-year guidance to be maintained at 43.5Moz silver and 430koz gold and projects to remain on track."Glencore Xstrata will report its first set of full-year results since its merger in May 2013.In the miner's trading update last month, it reported a 26% increase in 2013 copper production to 1.5m tonnes, driven by growth in African copper, Collahuasi, Antapaccay and Ernest Henry.Own sourced gold production was also up 14% to 1.023m ounces, boosted by strong performance at Kazzinc and Antapaccay.Following the update, Investec lifted its target prices from 308p to 328p, "largely due to higher sector earnings multiples, offsetting a small decrease in our net present value".Last week news surfaced that talks between the firm and the Chinese buyers of its Las Bambas copper mine in Peru have hit a snag over the price.A person familiar with the matter said Glencore's reserve price is much higher than $5.5bn.Investors will be waiting to see if the company provides more information on the deal. Investec said it sees share price performance being driven by progress on the sale of Las Bambas."If a sale is not achieved, then we suspect this will likely be a negative for the share price, at least in the short term," the broker said, lifting its rating to 'reduce' from 'sell'.Other FTSE 100 firms out with results tomorrow including Ashtead and Melrose.Tuesday March 4thINTERIMSAbcam, ISGINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSProducer Price Index (EU) (10:00)ZEW Survey (GER) (10:00)Q3Ashtead GroupFINALSAlent, Arrow Global Group, Breedon Aggregates Ltd., CLS Holdings, Damac Real Estate Development Limited GDR (Each Repr 3 Ord) (Reg S) , Devro, Fresnillo, Glencore Xstrata, Hydro International, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, Meggitt, Moneysupermarket.com Group, Ooredoo Q.S.C. GDR (Reg S), Pace, Paddy Power, Perform Group, Regus, Rotork, Serco Group, Tarsus Group, Total Produce, Tullett Prebon, VesuviusIMSSCity of London Investment GroupAGMSCareTech Holding, Commercial International Bank (Egypt) SAE GDR (Reg S), CQS Diversified Fund Ltd Ord NPV £, Octopus Eclipse VCT 1UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSPMI Construction (09:30)RD